A Mutant
by Ice Lynx
Summary: One girl struggling to find some stable ground and fit in the school after her mutation surfaces, but first she has to recover from abuse, anger, and death. FINISHED!
1. The Girl

Disclaimer; Same as it usually is, I own nothing but the plot and the few OC's that you should be able to differ from Marvel's folk. In case you can't they are as follows; Kyle, D'arcy, and Anya and Kyle's father.  
  
Summary;  
  
This takes place about a month after X2, has some spoilers, like JEAN BEING THOUGHT DEAD, and I'll be including Henry McCoy, the Beast, as the doctor, duh and lol. I will also be using a few other Evo characters like Spike. Please review, I would be ever so grateful for feedback on this one. Thanks!  
  
-Ice Lynx  
  
****************************************************************************   
  


* * *

  
"Ororo, would you go and get the rest of the team to meet me up in my office? There is a mutant girl who I'm concerned about," Xavier said.  
  
"Of course," she replied, "But are you worried about her attacking us or is she in some kind of danger?"  
  
"I can't tell, that's why I'm worried," Xavier forced a smile and Ororo nodded, walking away immediately.  
  
Five minutes later Logan, Scott, Ororo, and Kurt were assembled in Xavier's office, waiting for the professor to speak.  
  
"I have found a mutant girl," Xavier said, looking at the group. Kurt looked interested in what the meeting was about, as was Ororo. Logan was looking at him, arms folded across his chest as he listened, and Scott was standing stone silent, staring straight ahead. He was still trying to get a handle on his life after Jean's death, as most of the X Men were.  
  
"We gonna recruit her?" Logan asked.  
  
"I think we should check into it, when I saw her in Cerebro I got the sense she was in trouble, she's currently in Concord, Massachusetts."  
  
"We'll go now," Ororo said, looking around. Kurt nodded and Logan grunted, while Scott remained motionless. "Scott?" Ororo asked. Scott's head jerked.  
  
"Uh, yeah, of course," he said. "Right now." Ororo and the professor exchanged looks but Scott turned and left. "Come on, we'll need to get moving if she's in trouble." The rest of the team followed after him and soon Xavier looked out the window and saw the basketball court disappear and the Blackbird rise out of it and fly off. He sighed and looked at some papers on his desk, and wondered briefly who the girl was. He looked closer at the papers and remembered that the new doctor was coming today, Henry McCoy, also known as the beast.  
  


* * *

  
The team walked up the road and looked around, and Ororo pointed to one small white house. "That should be the one," she said. Kurt looked at it, then nervously back down at his image inducer, which the professor had just given him. He was still nervous about the disguise breaking down and him being left back in his natural blue body with the tail, ears, fangs, and three-fingered hands and feet to match.  
  
"That's it?" Logan asked, looking at the house skeptically. "Looks pretty empty t' me."  
  
"Well, the professor said they were still home," Scott said tersely, walking forward. The others followed him as he reached the front door and knocked, carefully adjusting the dark sunglasses on his head. There was a faint sound of something falling over coming from the inside and then silence, and after a few moments Scott knocked again.  
  
"Vy aren't they answering?" Kurt asked, looking at Ororo.  
  
"Maybe the parents know who we are," Logan said. "And don't want anything t' do with us." Scott knocked again harder.  
  
"Hello?" He called. "Mr. Drakings?"  
  
"Drakings?" Logan said. Scott scowled at him.  
  
"The professor told me," he said tersely. Logan grunted and then looked up at the covered porch, walking over and looking in a window.  
  
"Well, Mr. Drakings is in there," he said. "Jus' ran off. Wait, he's back again." The door banged open and a tall man with brown hair and dressed in a dirty pair of jeans and a white shirt glared at them.  
  
"What do you want?" he demanded. Scott had to look up at him slightly, and he carefully kept his small shock hidden.  
  
"Mr. Drakings?" He asked. The man nodded. "My name is Scott Summers, I'm from Charles Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters, may I speak with you about your daughter?" The man jerked slightly.  
  
"I don't have a daughter," he said. "You're thinking of the Drakings who live in Hell, try there Mr. Summers," he said. Logan walked back over and peered around the man.  
  
"Yeh don't 'ave a daughter?" he said. "Sure looks like it, or is that yer wife?" The man turned around to the wall behind them, which showed a bunch of family photos, including a teenaged girl with short brown hair and amber eyes.  
  
"Get off my property," Sam Drakings said in a low voice.  
  
"But we can help your daughter," Ororo said, speaking up. The man looked at her.  
  
"You can't help people like her," he said. "She's going to Hell, that isn't going to change because some pretty boy and his little gang are going to try and take her away." Logan's eyes narrowed and Ororo closed her mouth, Scott just looked at him.  
  
"Sir," he said in a strained voice. "Your daughter is still your daughter, she's just a mutant as well, we can help her and if she goes to our school, you can remember her whatever way you would like, as a mutant or not, and you can wait for her to come back able to control her mutation and with a good education to match. But whether you choose to let her leave with us or not, you will remember that I said this, the only people in this world who go to Hell are the ones who sin and never repent, and being a mutant is not a sin. Now would you like to know more about the school?" The man stared at Scott.  
  
"No," he said gruffly. "Just take her, get her out of my house."  
  
"Where is her room?" Scott asked, his face set.  
  
"Up the stairs to the left, and hurry up and get out of here," Sam snapped. The X Men walked into the house and Scott looked at Ororo and Kurt.  
  
"You two go talk with the girl," Scott said. He looked at Sam. "What's her name?" he asked.  
  
"Kyle."  
  
"You two go and talk to Kyle, and tell her what is going on, make sure you don't scare her," Scott said. Ororo and Kurt nodded and walked up the stairs, leaving Scott and Logan looking at Sam. "She'll be able to make friends and be with other children her age there-" Scott started.  
  
"I don't care," Sam grunted. "I just want her out. She won't come back here on holidays or anything either, turn her out on the streets if you don't have room."  
  
"Listen, bub," Logan growled. "She's still yer kid, and yer gonna remember that for the rest of yer life, if yeh never see her again."  
  
"My daughter died four days ago, and this bitch took her place, I'm going to remember Kyle," Sam said.  
  
Upstairs Ororo knocked on Kyle's door softly. "Kyle?" she asked. "My name is Ororo Munroe, may I come in and talk to you?" Hearing no answer she slowly opened the door and looked in, jumping as she heard a 'flit' sound and suddenly a three-inch long, brown, dart-like this appeared, buried in the wooden doorframe to her right. Ororo looked up and saw a teenaged girl, definitely the girl in the pictures downstairs, only her eyes were pure purple, and intense color like the liquid that had appeared where the giant needle had stuck running down slowly. The teen's mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide.  
  
"I- I'm sorry," she said fearfully. "They just shoot out sometimes, I don't even know what comes out of them." Ororo smiled at her and Kurt looked over the white haired weather goddess's shoulder and smiled at her, noticing how scared she looked and the several bruises on her forehead and bare arms. She was dressed in a small black tank top and brown pants and it looked like her lip and chin had been cut, a purple scab was forming over it as it still looked pretty recent.  
  
"That's alright," Ororo said gently, taking a step forward. "They come out of your wrists?" She asked, noticing the needle-sharp points coming from behind Kyle's hand. Kyle nodded fearfully. "Alright, just keep where the... where they come out pointed at the floor."  
  
"I call them darts," Kyle said shrugging slightly. Immediately a dart shot out of her other wrist and she jumped. "Sorry!" she said, staring at her hands and putting them on into a pillow, which had evidently been shot quite a few times, it's dark purple color on one side from the liquid in Kyle's darts and the original yellow color on the back contrasting greatly. Kyle looked up at Ororo and Kurt. "Are you?" she stopped and looked out the window fearfully.  
  
"Am I what?" Ororo asked.  
  
"Are you the police or something?" Kyle asked, pausing. "Did he, did he call you?" Ororo smiled sadly.  
  
"No, he didn't call us," she said. "And we're not the police. We come from a school, for mutants, like us. We came to see if you wanted to come and stay at the school, and be with other kids your age, who are all mutants like you and I."  
  
"A school?" Kyle repeated, sitting back on her bed and staring at Ororo. "A school," she said again in a soft voice. "With mutants in it...." she looked down at her pillow. "Who are you?" she asked.  
  
"My name is Ororo Munroe," Ororo repeated, and then she motioned at Kurt. "And this is Kurt Wagner, we're both mutants, like you."  
  
"Mutants..." Kyle said again.  
  
"Would you like to come?" Ororo asked. Kyle looked up at her.  
  
"What did he say?" she asked. Ororo looked at Kurt.  
  
"He said it vos up to you," Kurt said. "Though he thinks it vould be best for you."  
  
"He told me to get out of, of the house, right?" Kyle said bitterly. "He said that the other day to, ever since I became- ever since these started coming out of me." Ororo looked at Kyle sadly.  
  
"Did he hurt you?" she asked. Kyle's head shot up and her eyes started to fill with tears, but she looked away again.  
  
"I- I almost shot him, it, it was an accident bu, but" she said in a shaky voice and starting to stutter and trip over her words. "He said it, it would make me control them...." Ororo walked over and sat on her bed, butting a hand on the girl's shoulder.  
  
"That's not an excuse," she said softly. "There's never an excuse for someone hitting you because of what you are."  
  
"But I'm leaving right?" she said, looking up slowly. "So it doesn't matter anymore, right?"  
  
"It does matter, but if you don't want to do anything, that's up to you," Ororo said. Then she stood and smiled at Kyle, who looked up at her. "We'll let you get your things together, we'll be downstairs when you're ready." She turned and left with Kurt, going back downstairs to find Scott and Logan still having a stare-down with Sam. Scott and Logan looked over as their teammates came down.  
  
"She's getting her things together," Ororo said. Then she glared at Sam. "May I ask who told you that beating you daughter would make her control her mutation?" Sam scowled back as the other X Men looked at him.  
  
"Yeh hit her?" Logan growled. Sam folded his arms across his chest.  
  
"She attacked me," he growled back.  
  
"She has no control vith the darts," Kurt said, "It vos not her fault."  
  
"Well I wasn't mine either," Sam snarled. "And what is she gonna do, press charges? She's a goddamn mutant, she'd be arrested or shot the moment she set foot in a police station." Ororo shook her head.  
  
"She's not going to do anything about it," she said.  
  
"Then there's no problem," Sam said.  
  
"But there is," Scott said. Suddenly they heard a creaking sound and all five adults looked at the stairs to see Kyle, in a brown coat and holding a small blue travel bag. Ororo smiled at her.  
  
"Kyle, this is Scott and Logan," she said. The two men looked at her and Logan's eyes visibly lingered on her bruises and chin and she looked down uncomfortably.  
  
"Hey," she said in a quiet voice. Scott forced himself to forget the father for a moment and smiled at Kyle.  
  
"Are you ready to go Kyle?" he asked. Kyle looked up briefly and nodded, coming all the way down the stairs and standing with her arms wrapped around herself.  
  
"How, how long will I be at the school?" she asked, looking at her father, who glared at her back.  
  
"As long as you want," Ororo said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The other X Men walked to the door and Kyle looked at her dad.  
  
"Well, bye," she said, taking a step forward and slightly opening her arms as if to embrace him. Immediately Sam pushed her back, which caused another dart to shoot out of her coat sleeve and bury itself in the ceiling. Sam's face grew red.  
  
"Get out of my house," he said in a low voice. "Get-"  
  
"Get a grip on yerself bub," Logan growled, stepping in front of Kyle immediately. Ororo put a hand on Kyle's frozen face and slowly guided her to the door and through it.  
  
"It's alright," she said. "He didn't mean that, he's just as scared as you are right now." Logan glared at Sam.  
  
"She's yer daughter," he said. Then he turned and followed the others out.  
  


* * *

  
The Blackbird landed slowly and Ororo turned to smile at Kyle, who was looking around fearfully.  
  
"We're here," she said as Kurt and Logan stood up. Scott remained motionless in the pilot's seat, staring out the window as Ororo got up and put a hand on Kyle's shoulder.  
  
"This doesn't really, not really old school like, huh?" Kyle said weakly. Ororo smiled.  
  
"I think you'll enjoy it here," she said. "Come on, let's go talk to the professor."  
  
"Is he like the principle?" Kyle asked, standing up.  
  
"Yes," Ororo answered, then noticing Kyle looking at Scott curiously she directed the teen out. "Let's leave Scott alone right now," she said softly.  
  
Up several flights Kyle nervously followed Ororo and Kurt down the hall, looking around and pulling her coat around her tighter. Once they reached a large door they stopped and Ororo knocked, and hearing a "Come in she opened the door and beckoned for Kyle to go in first. Kyle looked at the professor first but was then aware of a large man with a few bags at his own feet. When he turned around he smiled slightly nervously at Kyle, and Ororo and Kurt stopped and looked at him.  
  
"Hello, Kyle, I am Professor Xavier" Xavier said warmly. Kyle hitched her bag up on her shoulder nervously.  
  
"Hello," she said softly. Xavier looked at Ororo and Kurt and smiled at them.  
  
"As it is Kyle is not the only new member of the school," he said. "This is Dr. Henry McCoy, Hank, this is Ororo Munroe, Kurt Wagner, and Kyle."  
  
"Good afternoon," Hank said. He peered at Kyle's cut but didn't say anything. "Thank you very much, Professor Xavier." 


	2. The Doctor

"Whatcha mean, a new doctor?" Logan asked. Kurt shrugged, taking off his image inducer and immediately becoming blue again.  
  
"His name vos Henry McCoy," he said. "I don't know much else."  
  
"Well he's a mutant isn't he?" Logan said, pushing his can of beer around on the countertop. Kurt nodded when suddenly Kyle walked in, freezing when she saw the adults.  
  
"I... didn't mean to interrupt anything," she said, eyes wide when she saw Kurt. "Sorry."  
  
"Don't be, yeh didn't interrupt anything," Logan answered. "Meet anyone yet?" Kyle blinked.  
  
"Not really," she said slowly. "Besides you and Professor Xavier, and Dr. McCoy."  
  
"Yeh talk to him at all?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's he like?"  
  
"He asked me about my cut," Kyle said softly. Kurt looked at her.  
  
"Vot did you say?" he asked gently.  
  
"Accident, that's what it was anyway," Kyle said quickly. "You look- different," she said. Kurt smiled.  
  
"Image inducer," he said, showing the gadget to her. He put it on his wrist and turned it one, immediately looking like a normal man. "The professor gave it to me."  
  
"Cool," Kyle said as Kurt took it off again. "Can the professor hide my darts?"  
  
"Nope," Logan grunted, taking a sip of his beer. Kyle looked crestfallen when he spoke again. "Chuck'll teach ya how to control them and keep them hidden, and fire them whenever yeh want."  
  
"They shoot out every five minutes," Kyle said, smiling sadly. "They come out if I need them to."  
  
~Kyle?~ Kyle jumped and looked around when Logan smiled.  
  
"Chuck," he said. "He's a telepath. Yeh'll get used to mental calls, just answer him with yer thoughts." Kyle closed her eyes and concentrated.  
  
~Y- yeah?~ she said nervously. She heard a mental chuckle.  
  
~I'm sorry to startle you,~ he said. ~But our new doctor would like to see if he could get a sample of the liquid which emits from your darts, Logan or Kurt could show you the way.~  
  
~Uh, sure~ Kyle said, opening her eyes. Kurt looked like he was lost in thought for a moment, then he blinked and smiled at her.  
  
"I vill show you the vay if you vant," he said. Kyle nodded and followed the blue man out of the door when Logan called to her.  
  
"Hey kid, find somethin' about Dr. Whats-his-face I can use against him," Logan said. Kyle nodded.  
  
"Ok," she said, then turned and followed Kurt down more halls. Halfway to the medbay a girl with brown hair with a white streak in it walked past them and slowed down when she saw Kyle. Kurt smiled at her.  
  
"Hey Kurt," the girl said, looking at Kyle curiously. "Who's this?"  
  
"This is Kyle," Kurt said. "Kyle, this is Rogue, she is in some of your classes." Rogue smiled at her.  
  
"New girl huh?" she asked. Kyle nodded and felt the familiar smooth feeling of one of her darts coming out. She crossed her arms and tried to get the dart to go back in like she had managed to do once the day before and tried to smile. Rogue nodded and looked back at Kurt. "Well I have to get to class, see you later Kyle," with that she turned and walked down the hall.  
  
"See?" Kurt said as they continued to walk as well. "Everyone here understands vot can come vith being a mutant, I think Rogue may be in your dorm." Kyle nodded and tried to make the long needle go away while she walked, but she felt the muscles in her wrist contracting. She knew any sudden hand movement would set teh dart off into who knows what.  
  
A silver door glided open as they approached it and Kurt walked in.  
  
"Dr. McCoy?" he called. Dr. McCoy looked up from his bags and computers and smiled.  
  
"Oh, hello," he said, coming over. "Kurt, wasn't it? And Kyle?" Kurt nodded. "You can call me Hank," the doctor said, putting out his hand. Kurt shook it but Kyle shook her head.  
  
"Dart problems," she said, looking at the floor. Hank smiled.  
  
"One of them is coming out?" he asked. Kyle nodded and Hank pointed to the wall. "Shoot it at the wall, and I can get the sample from it. I bet you know hoe to release it?" Kyle pointed her palm at the wall and immediately a dart exploded out of her skin and buried itself halfway into the wall. Hank smiled and Kurt looked at it in slight shock.  
  
"Vow," he said. Hank nodded and walked over, putting a plastic glove on his hand and taking a small test-tube out of his pocket he tugged the needle- like dart out of the wall and let the purple liquid seep into the tube. When all of the liquid had come out he put the cap on the tube and carried the tube and dart over to his desk and sat down, swiveling around in his chair to look at Kyle.  
  
"Thank you," he said. "I'll try and figure out what is in the darts, and I'm sure the professor will help you control when they come out and how powerfully they shoot. Now I would like to talk about those bruises and that cut, if you don't mind." Kyle looked at him, a hand instinctively going up and causing another dart to shoot itself into the ceiling. Immediately Kyle lowered her hand.  
  
"It was an accident," she said. Kurt looked up at the dart as the liquid started to seep out and drop of Kyle's head, which she ignored. Hank sighed.  
  
"I must say, Ms. Munroe and the professor didn't seem to think it was an accident," he said. "Would you tell me what happened? Or would you feel more comfortable talking to Ororo or the professor?"  
  
"I almost shot my dad," Kyle said, looking at her wrists. Hank nodded.  
  
"And he hit you?" he asked. "Did he attack you with a knife?"  
  
"He said that when my blood became red again I wouldn't go to hell," Kyle said softly. Hank stood up and walked over to her, looking closely at the cut.  
  
"I can't tell if it's infected or not, though I don't think it is," he said. He looked Kyle straight in the eye. "You're still a human being Kyle, don't let anyone tell you different, just because you look different. It was unacceptable what your father did to you, but I don't have enough knowledge or the ability to do anything about it. But I can tell you this, you will not go to Hell because you are a mutant, and it doesn't matter what color your blood is." Kyle nodded and ran her tongue over her lip.  
  
"You go there because of what you do, right?" she said. Hank nodded and stood up.  
  
"Right, now I was wondering if I could get a blood sample as well?" Kyle shrugged and looked up at the dart in the ceiling.  
  
"Oops," she said. Hank looked up and grabbed it with his gloved hand and set it next to the other dart.  
  
"Don't worry about it," he said. "Now if you'll just sit over here-"  
  
*****  
  
Kyle arrived with Kurt late to dinner, and she took her seat in silence and looked at the food in front of her. Logan looked over his own large plate of food at the teen and grunted.  
  
"So what yeh get?" he asked.  
  
"Huh?" Kyle said, looking up. Logan chuckled.  
  
"Yeh didn't get any dirt on McCoy for me?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, he's nice," Kyle said, nodding her head a little. "And he likes Twinkies."  
  
"Twinkies?" Logan repeated, stifling another laugh. Kurt nodded.  
  
"Ve saw him taking out two boxes of them," he said, smiling himself. "Ve didn't vant to steal any, but he vos still protective of them."  
  
"They are my private snacks, and from where I come form the term 'private snack' is like an invitation for many people to steal them," Hank said, walking over. Logan looked up.  
  
"Yer the doctor?" he said. "Henry McKay?"  
  
"McCoy, and you may call me Hank if you prefer," Hank said, smiling.  
  
"Logan," Logan grunted. "And I don't plan on seeing you in the medbay at all, so don't get sugar defenses up." Hank chuckled.  
  
"Well, Logan, I don't believe anyone plans on needing medical attention-"  
  
"Oh, he vont be," Kurt spoke up.  
  
"Really?" Hank said skeptically.  
  
"Nope," Logan replied, stuffing more hamburger in his mouth.  
  
"May I ask why not?"  
  
"Secret, bub," Logan said. Kyle looked at him, sure she had heard somewhere he had some kind of healing mutation and wondering whether or not she should speak up.  
  
"Kyle, vy don't you go sit vith the other kids?" Kurt asked suddenly. Kyle jerked, having never been good in social situations, and looked at the adults, quickly gathering her things up.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to- I didn't know you wanted to talk,"  
  
"No," Kurt said immediately. "I just thought you vould like to meet the others, that's all."  
  
"You're welcome to stay Kyle," Hank said. "It is nice knowing I am not the only one mystified by this man." Logan snorted.  
  
"Yer not the only one mystified in the school," he said. "I doubt anyone ain't mystified, partially 'cause I don't get myself, except maybe Chuck." Kyle tried to smile and just walked away, sitting closer to the other kids and wondering how in the world she was going to fit in at the school, they all seemed so close here.  
  
"Who's that?" She was aware of a few glances she was getting and heard the same question repeated a few time, but instead she focused on her food when she heard someone say her name.  
  
"Kyle, right?" Kyle looked up and saw Rogue smiling at her, flanked by two other girls. Rogue smiled at her and Kyle nodded.  
  
"Yeah, um, Rogue," she said.  
  
"Yep, mind if we sit here?" Kyle shook her head and Rogue and one of the other girls sat down across the table from her and the other sat next to her.  
  
"Hi, I'm Kitty, and this is Jubilee," the girl sitting next to Kyle said, her voice bright and cheerful.  
  
"Hey," Jubilee said. Then she looked down the table. "Oh man, Bobby's looking, watch out Rogue and get your makeup all pretty for your boyfriend." Rogue made a face at her.  
  
"I don't have to put on any makeup for him," she said. Then she paused. "Hmm, looks like Evan sees you Kyle." Kyle looked up at table briefly and saw a boy with dark skin and yellow hair looking at her curiously. Kyle dropped her gaze immediately and picked up her fork, in the process shooting a dart right past Rogue's ear. Rogue, Jubilee, and Kitty jumped and Kyle's eyes widened as they stared at her.  
  
"Whoa, what was that?" Kitty said.  
  
"I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Kyle said, putting her hands down. Small gasps and cries of "Did you see that? She shot something at Rogue! Who *is* she?" came from down the hall. The adults down the table looked up and Logan walked over.  
  
"What happened?" he said.  
  
"She just shot some needle thing at Rogue," Jubilee said, her mouth open in awe. Kyle looked at Logan.  
  
"I didn't mean to, it was an accident," she said.  
  
"Hey, no, that's ok," Rogue said. "You missed, right?" Logan walked over to the wall and pulled out the needle as Hank stood up.  
  
"I wouldn't touch-" Logan looked at the purple liquid seeped into his hand and then disappeared a moment later, a purple mark left behind. All of the sudden he felt woozy and started to breath hard, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall for support.  
  
"Logan!" Rogue said, getting up. Kyle hurried around the table and grabbed the dart just as the last of the liquid washed over her own hands, then disappeared without leaving a mark.  
  
"I'm- I'm ok," Logan said, putting up his hand. Kyle backed away.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said again, tears forming in her eyes. Logan forced a chuckle.  
  
"No, no problem kid," he said. "Happens all the, all the time." He closed his eyes again and leaned his head on the wall, and after a moment his breathing returned to normal and he opened his eyes. "There, all better, no problem at all-" he said, looking around.  
  
"Vere did Kyle go?" Kurt asked, looking at where she had been a moment before. But Kyle was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Are you sure you're alright?" Hank asked, walking over to Logan. "I thought it was some kind of poison, but perhaps not one strong enough to-"  
  
"Oh it's strong," Logan said, smiling and looking at his hand, where the last of the purple was fading away. "Didn't I tell yeh, healing mutation?" Hank stopped.  
  
"I'm going to need to run some more tests," he said.  
  
**  
  
Ororo was walking down the hall to go to dinner when Kyle rushed past her, tears leaking down her face and holding something in her hand.  
  
"Kyle?" Ororo turned and hurried after her, finding her in the dorm she had been shown earlier. "Kyle, what happened? What's wrong?"  
  
"I almost shot Rogue!" Kyle said, more tears leaking down her face. "And when Logan picked up the dart, he almost died!"  
  
"Is he alright?" Ororo asked, "Is Rogue alright?"  
  
"Rogue is, I don't know about Logan though," Kyle sobbed.  
  
"Oh, there there, Logan will be fine," Ororo said, putting her arm around Kyle's shoulder. "That man has been through much worse than this, I promise you. He'll be fine, and you'll learn how to control those darts of yours-"  
  
"But what if I kill someone first?" Kyle sobbed. "What if I don't miss one time and hit someone who can't heal that fast?"  
  
"You won't kill anyone," Ororo said.  
  
"I shouldn't have come here," Kyle said. "I should have stayed where I wouldn't hit anyone who didn't deserve it."  
  
"Kyle-"  
  
"Sometimes I deserve it," Logan said from the doorway. Kyle looked up and then away, her purple eyes slightly gleaming in the lights.  
  
"Kyle, there are many children here who had mutations just as dangerous as yours," Ororo said. "You know what Rogue's mutation is? She can't even touch someone with her bare skin without taking their life force and memories-"  
  
"She nearly killed me as well," Logan said.  
  
"And there is a boy who," Ororo continued, ignoring Logan. "When he first came here couldn't control his powers and nearly turned everything and everyone he got close to into blocks of ice-"  
  
"He's going out with Rogue, and he nearly froze my hand off," Logan said.  
  
"And professor Xavier himself could kill every mutant and human in the world with his machine Cerebro," Ororo said. Logan didn't say anything as a flood of memories came back from one month before, and Ororo felt the same thing as she stopped talking.  
  
"But they haven't killed anyone?" Kyle asked slowly. "You guys helped them out in time?" Ororo nodded, bringing herself back to the present moment.  
  
"Yes, and the same thing will happen to you," she said. "We'll help you learn to control your darts, and soon you won't even need to think about them when you don't want to."  
  
"I could keep them hidden forever if I wanted?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Jus' don't shoot me again."  
  
"Logan, that's not helping."  
  
"Sorry Ro, just making sure the kid's got the facts straight."  
  
"Logan." 


	3. The Worry

"It appears that the liquid which secretes from her darts is indeed a lethal poison, which is also found in her blood. After running more tests I found that directly after her blood is taken from the body it is acidic and will eat through skin and weaker solids. It appears that a chemical reaction with oxygen and other particles in the air both causes the blood to become acidic but then reduces it to normal blood, and it will start to thicken on the surface after a while, like regular blood." Hank looked over his papers and then up at Xavier, Ororo, Scott, Kurt and Logan. "Her darts themselves also contain the chemicals which make her blood less acidic, and thickens it as well."  
  
"So she's got acid blood an' poison in her bones?" Logan asked. Hank nodded.  
  
"If the poison is not directly infused into something that soaks it up it will splash and if it falls on skin, the skin will absorb it and only a purple mark will be left. This is not so effective in terms of what the darts are supposed to do, but it still poisons the absorber. An example would be what Logan experienced in the dining hall."  
  
"Are there any other effects from her mutation?" Ororo asked. Hank nodded.  
  
"The chemicals in her blood are what turned her eyes purple," he said. "And, if I'm not mistaken, will eventually turn her teeth, nails, hair, and on a stretch her skin purple as well. I cannot be sure about that though, it is only a theory."  
  
"She's going turn completely purple?" Scott asked.  
  
"It is a possibility."  
  
"But it won't hurt her," Xavier said, looking directly at Hank. The large man shook his brown-haired head.  
  
"As far as I can tell she is completely immune to her poison, and perhaps all poisons and drugs weaker than it, which would cover most found in the world," he said. "She may or may not like her coloring, but by all physical and mental standards she should be fine."  
  
"How does she fire her darts?" Kurt asked, looking at Hank wide-eyed.  
  
"It appears her mutation uses some muscles in her arms which, for most people, are used much less than her. It's these muscles which fire her darts, and their lack of use may account for why she is not used to them and has problems controlling them. The skin around her wrists is elastic- like, and after the darts shoot out it appears to form back and mesh together, leaving no trace of being broken."  
  
"Sort of like a healing mutation in one spot?" Ororo wondered. Hank nodded.  
  
"How does this help her?" Logan said, arms folded across his chest. "Besides confirming to her that if she shoots someone who isn't me or Sabertooth that she's gonna kill them?"  
  
"Logan," Xavier said. "I would not put it that way to her, if you discuss this with her at all."  
  
"Don't worry Chuck," Logan said smiling. "I know my informative limits, I don't handle this kinda stuff."  
  
"I have already spoken with Kyle about this," Hank interrupted. "I met her on the way up, and she is going to come down to the medical bay in a little while so I can see if I can help her with getting used to firing her darts."  
  
"So that's it?" Scott asked. "That's what the meeting was called for?"  
  
"Well, I just wanted to inform all of you that unless you have an early passing wish," Hank looked directly at Logan as he said this. "You should avoid having any direct contact with Kyle's darts or the poison which will come out of it."  
  
"An' don't pick'em up," Logan said, chuckling.  
  
"I will inform my classes as well," Scott said. Xavier nodded.  
  
"That would be wise," he said. "The students must not come into contact with the poison."  
  
"Vot if Kyle feels put into the spotlight because of the varning?" Kurt asked. "She might feel singled out."  
  
"Yes, but she also needs to understand she could kill someone, I think she will understand," Xavier said. Kurt and the others nodded when they heard a soft knock on the door and Kitty stuck her head through the door.  
  
"Hey professor, are we having classes today? None of the- oh, there you guys are," she said cheerfully, looking at Scott and Ororo. Scott looked at his watch and slowly got up.  
  
"We're late for class," he told Ororo, who also rose. "Well, thank you professor, Hank," he turned and walked out of the door after Kitty's head disappeared. Logan nodded.  
  
"Time fer lunch anyway," he said, leaving. Kurt nodded at the professor and left, following Hank after the doctor also emerged from the office.  
  
"How long do you think until she vill be able to control her darts?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, I suppose it depends on how much work she puts into working on it," Hank said, shrugging then looking at his own watch. "Would you go inform Kyle that I can meet with her a little earlier, if it works for her?" Kurt nodded and bud farewell, then teleported off, which surprised Hank slightly as he jumped. Then he shook his head and continued walking down the halls muttering to himself. "A man who is normal looking, then blue, then disappears in a puff of blue smoke, another who can heal, and a little girl who can stick her head through solid doors, this place is certainly going to get some getting used to."  
  
**  
  
Kurt teleported to the right hallway and then looked around, finding the right dorm door and approaching it he raised his hand to knock when he heard a bunch of thuds from inside. He knocked and slowly opened the door, finding Kyle with one arm raised, palm facing the opposite wall, which had three darts buried in it. She looked up at Kurt walked in and then sighed, though Kurt couldn't see her eyes because of the dark blue sunglasses she was wearing.  
  
"Hey," she said. "Watch out, the walls are bleeding poison."  
  
"Are you doing alright?" Kurt asked, concerned. Kyle shrugged.  
  
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "Thinking isn't supposed to hurt people."  
  
"Isn't?" Kurt repeated, coming in. Kyle took off her sunglasses and flung them across the room, staring at the darts miserably.  
  
"It's not," she said in a small voice. "Memories, they're just thoughts, they shouldn't hurt you either."  
  
"Bad memories?" Kurt asked gently. Kyle nodded. "Vould you like to talk about them?" When she spoke next she seemed to be yelling, though her voice was no louder than most, it was definitely louder than any other time Kurt had heard her speak.  
  
"They're not much, Scott loose his wife or mum or something a little while ago?" she asked. Kurt wondered why she had asked it and slowly nodded.  
  
"Yes, his fiancée. She vos a very caring person, as I understand," he said. "I did not know her vell, I only came to the school a month ago."  
  
"Wow, lots of new people around here," Kyle said. Then she sighed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I just heard some kids talking and noticed how Scott looks a lot, like my-" she broke off and looked at her feet.  
  
"Did you lose someone recently?" Kurt guessed. Kyle looked at him.  
  
"Sort of," she said. "My mum died a few years ago, car crash. I just noticed- Scott gets the same face as my father does when he's thinking about mum, though he usually cant think straight at all," Kyle broke off and sneered at her feet. "Most of the time he's too drunk to think of anything or anyone, he doesn't even remember mom a lot." Kurt sat on a chair near the door,  
  
"I'm sorry," he said. Kyle growled.  
  
"I'm not," she said, "Mom had no right to get in that accident, she was drunk too, that's why she crashed, and dad's screwed up because of that, and can't handle me being around because I looked like her, though now I won't for long, will I?" she asked, looking at Kurt, who had not been expecting the outburst so soon. "No, because I'm gonna get purple and he would never recognize me, even if I could hide these goddamn darts and pretend like I healed form them, pretend like I was just Kyle and go back and stay with him. But I don't want to anyway, because he'd still get drunk and hit me, and if I killed him I'd never get away with it, I'd be locked up forever and rot in jail."  
  
A noise outside sounded like a pair of girls running by, shouting.  
  
"We're late, hurry up Jay!"  
  
"I am hurrying, girl, wait up!" Kyle listened for a moment longer.  
  
"You know, as the daughter of a pair of drunks I'm probably gonna be a drunk to? But in jail you cant get booze, so maybe I should end up there."  
  
"You vill not end up in jail," Kurt said. Kyle sighed.  
  
"I can only think, right? Think about mum, think about pops and what it was like when I was normal, when I wasn't a mutant and could live at home instead of some school with other mutants. And those mutants, almost all of them can go home, or go make their own home, or be happy here, and not have to worry about who will take care of their mother's grave of wonder-" Kyle stopped suddenly and looked at Kurt, her purple eyes meeting his yellow and locking gazes with him. After a moment she looked away and sighed. "I'm gonna be late to meet with Hank," she said quietly, getting to her feet and tugging the darts out of the wall, then throwing them in a trash can.  
  
"Kyle? Vot vere you going to say?" Kurt asked, worried about her tone and face. "Kyle, vot are you vorried about?" Kyle didn't answer, her voice dropping down so he could barely hear it.  
  
"Nothing, h- it doesn't matter," she said. "I need to go, Hank's waiting." And with that she hurried past him and out the door, leaving a worried Kurt behind her. 


	4. The Date

Two weeks went by, and after working with Xavier and Hank for long hours Kyle was starting to be able to fire her darts at will, though when she was feeling angry or nervous or jumpy she still had trouble with her darts shooting off, though it was clear she was getting better at controlling them when they did threaten to shoot. Also, as Hank predicted, her hair and nails were steadily turning more purple every day, though Kyle herself was alright with the effects.  
  
Kyle was also starting to take more classes, though she had no real good friends and was still incredibly quiet and conservative she was hanging around Rogue and her friends more, which pleased all of the teachers. Soon there was a new rumor, besides the many standard rumors that every new student had to deal with, that there was a certain spiky boy with his eyes on her, though Kyle never gave out her opinion and Rogue and Jubilee and Kitty teased her constantly about it.  
  
"Porcupine's not that bad looking," Jubilee commented, "Though the whole erupting spikes thing takes some getting used to."  
  
"I wonder if he'll give you anything for Valentines Day," Kitty wondered, mentioning once again the approaching holiday. Kyle didn't say a thing and walked her eyes cast low.  
  
At the same time as she seemed to be making process a few teachers, including Kurt, were slightly worried about Kyle's lack of talk and willing interaction with the others. Xavier hushed these before Kyle heard them, and the common opinion to this was that Kyle was still adjusting to her new life at the school. Soon the discussions turned to the fact that the annual three days of Valentine Dances was approaching.  
  
"Why do you need three dances?" Kyle asked as their group walked towards History Class, speaking up for the first time besides 'hello' that morning. Her three friends laughed.  
  
"Well, first there was only one, but then a while ago the girls wanted to do the dance by themselves, but the boys wanted in on it too, so they decided to hold two different dances. Then a group of kids want to hold a black dance, you know, everything black except a few red hearts here and there, and so they got to start their own dance too, so now we have three dances to choose from if we want," Kitty explained.  
  
"Who's asked who yet?" Jubilee wondered.  
  
"I'm going with Bobby," Rogue said, getting a groan.  
  
"Old news girl," Jubilees said. "Matt whats-his-face asked me to the Guy's Dance, I think I might go if no one else asks."  
  
"Matt? The X Ray guy Matt?" Kitty asked. She shook her head. "You have the weirdest taste in boys, and everything else too. I'm gonna ask Peter if he'll go with me."  
  
"Anyone ask you yet?" Rogue asked Kyle, who started to shake her head when she walked into someone and crashed over, taking the other person and their load of books down with her.  
  
"Oh, sorry!" Kyle said, looking up she saw Evan smiling at her.  
  
"No prob," he said. "I needed that; I can't wake up in the mornings."  
  
"Oh man, I uh, really have to go to the bathroom, see ya later!" Kitty said at once, running off.  
  
"Uh yeah, I need to fix my makeup," Jubilee said.  
  
"I need to- fix my makeup too, catch ya in class!" Rogue said. Kyle frowned at Jubilee as she mouth "Go Girl!" and disappeared, and Evan snorted.  
  
"You girls are strange," he said, getting up and offering a hand to Kyle, who shook her head, she could feel her darts sliding forward under her skin.  
  
"Oh no, it's not you," she said, seeing his face fall.  
  
"Oh, right," he said, bending down to pick up his books, Kyle grabbed another and noticed the dart that must have shot off when they crashed sticking out of the cover. Before she could hide it Evan saw it and laughed. "That's ok, I never liked Math that much anyway."  
  
"Sorry," Kyle muttered, pulling out the dart and turning the book upside down, letting all of the poison drip into her hands, where it immediately soaked in and disappeared.  
  
"No prob, maybe Aunt O won't make me use it today," he said, "with it being poisoned and all- I, oh man, I shouldn't have said that." Kyle looked down at the floor.  
  
"That's ok," she said softly. Evan frowned and took the math book.  
  
"Nah, that was not a good- I'm sorry," he said. Then he seemed to get more edgy and nervous, and Kyle looked up, wondering what was wrong. "Uh, I was wondering," he said. Kyle waited for him and then he sighed.  
  
"This is stupid," he said, smiling at Kyle. "Not you, I mean, the dances that are coming up. Really, who needs three dances?" Kyle nodded, wondering why Evan was saying this, but he obviously wasn't done. "So, uh, anyway, it seems they're big deals, and I wasn't gonna go, they don't sound like much fun unless- I mean, well, it might be more fun if I could go with someone, like you?" Kyle's head snapped up from the brown sweatband on her wrist.  
  
"Did- did you-?" she asked, completely taken off guard. Evan looked as shocked as she did.  
  
"Well, I mean, if you already -" he said, breaking off lamely.  
  
"Uh, what?" Kyle asked, getting confused. Suddenly Evan started to laugh again.  
  
"Man, I wish I had this on video tape so later I can look back and see how stupid I'm acting," he said. Kyle blinked. Evan looked at her. "I'm just gonna say this plain and simple, will you go to one of the dances with me?" Kyle smiled too.  
  
"Yeah, sure, um, should I ask which one?" she asked, amazed she was having this conversation.  
  
"What's the first one? The girl's or-"  
  
"It's the girls first!" Kitty yelled from down the hall. Evan and Kyle spun and looked at her and saw Jubilee and Rogue grab Kitty and push her out of sight, blushing furiously. Evan shook his head.  
  
"Girls are too strange," he muttered. Then he winced. "But not you," he told Kyle. "I didn't mean- well, I did, but in a good way," he said. Then he looked hopeful. "So that's a yes?" Kyle smiled, the first real smile she had smiled in over two weeks.  
  
"Yeah, the girl's dance," she said. Evan looked incredibly relieved and smiled.  
  
"Then I'll meet you at the stairs on Saturday, like, six-ish? The girls always start their dances so early, and they last a while." Kyle nodded.  
  
"Yeah," she said. Evan smiled at her.  
  
"Well, I've gotta get to class, see ya then!" he said, walking away. Kyle smiled again.  
  
"See you," she replied. Slowly she started to walk down the hall again when suddenly two pairs of hands reached out and grabbed her and she found herself staring into the eyes of three insanely grinning girls.  
  
"DID HE ASK YOU OUT?!" Kitty hollered. Kyle nodded, still unable to stop smiling. Jubilee laughed.  
  
"Rock on," she said. "Great job, and he said meet him at six? That's just when the dance starts!" she said.  
  
"Wow, are you two a couple now?" Rogue asked.  
  
"Well they haven't gone yet, but as soon as the dance is over, if they are still speaking, yes!" Kitty said, totally caught up, her eyes wide. "Oh that's so cute, he could barely talk for a moment there!"  
  
"Yeah, nice going loudmouth," Jubilee said as the girls started to walk again. "You really blew that!"  
  
"So? Didn't change anything, did it?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Evan said girls were strange," Kyle said.  
  
"And so we are, but that's so what being a girl is about," Jubilee said. Kyle nodded, still grinning. 


	5. The Return

Lol, ok, first some reply's and first, a universal thank you to everyone for reading this!  
  
GiveGodtheGlory; thank you, I'm glad it was cute, and I can't wait for the next Grouch chapter.  
  
Brynnmissy; well, I'm not really sure what you mean by extra drama, but I think... *checks ahead*.... nah, never mind, I don't wanna read all of this chappie to see, I can't remember if I refer any more to Jean's "death" or not, guess you'll have to keep reading! Lol.  
  
Chaotic Jinx; Hey gurl! Glad u like my story! And guess what? I actually plan on finishing this, lol. Anyway, I am trying to keep into the movie Kurt's accent, and am not completely sure, I'll have to look at it again, because I'm not always sure if, for example, at the end of "how" it would be 'v' or the beginning of "who" because the w is silent. With the "ze"'s and "zat"'s, I don't know, I'll have to look into them more to, but thanks for the input!  
  
Ashy; OK, ok, you brought up "Three Guests" again, I knew it was coming. And guess what? NO, because I HIT A WRITERS BLOCK THERE AND HAVE TAKEN OFF IN SEVERAL OTHER STORIES SINCE! But I may sometime, actually, I might look into it again, lol.  
  
Well everyone, I luved reading the reviews, and here's an extra long chappie just for you! And don't forget to tell me whatcha think, this will be a slightly more- oh never mind, y'all will have to read it. Another quick note would be I've already finished this story, so all you have to do is keep reviewing to get more chappies, and you're nearly at the end, I'll tell ou that much! Lol, bye!  
  
-Ice Lynx  
  
PS The uh, dances? Not a real event anywhere, to my knowledge, I just made them up for the purpose of this story, well, the original plot line, which changed slightly, but I saw no point in- anyway they aren't as important now and they are not real to my limited vision, lol.  
  
**************************************************************************** **********  
  
A week later it was Friday, and all anyone was talking about was the parties. Kyle was up in her room with Jubilee, Rogue, and Kitty, looking at all of the girl's clothing to find something they could wear. They were all close to the same size, which was good because Kyle didn't have any dresses and needed to borrow. There was lots of candy being passed around, and all four girls were getting a little hyper and choosing odd clothes to wear, with the exception of a few practically nice-looking outfits.  
  
"You should wear this one, Kyle," Rogue said, holding up a strapless aqua dress and ended at the knees and had a dark blue glitter design on its side. "It would go great with you hair, and eyes, and nails, and teeth-"  
  
"Hey, my teeth aren't purple!" Kyle said, scowling.  
  
"Yes they are," Jubilee informed her. Kyle rushed over to a mirror and looked at her purple-ish teeth.  
  
"No!" she moaned. "I've been using whitening!"  
  
"You should wear this dress though, and some purple high heels, I think Mia Gradstone may have some you could wear-"  
  
"She needs something blue, but not that," Jubilee said, digging through her trunk of clothes. She emerged. "Here is your outfit Kyle," she said, holding up a blue mini skirt with a white tank top and a blue jacket. "With my black coots, you're gonna knock ol' Porcupine's spikes off!"  
  
"No way," Kyle said, shaking her head. "Nope! I'll wear the dress, thanks Rogue."  
  
"Hey, that's not Rogue's, that's mine!" Kitty said.  
  
"Then thanks Kit," Kyle said, laughing. Kit shook her head but smiled while the other two laughed.  
  
"So, Kyle, how is Mr. Cute-spikes doing?"  
  
"I dunno, haven't talked to him really except when he asked me-" a knock on the door interrupted them and Kyle got up and opened the door to find Evan smiling at her.  
  
"Hi," she said, surprised and wondering about her hair. It felt good to wonder about something like her hair like a normal teenage girl, Kyle hadn't felt that way in a long time. Kitty squealed but was then smothered by Jubilee and Rogue, and Kyle blushed.  
  
"Hey," Evan said, looking at Kitty with narrowed eyes and a questioning smile.  
  
"Still weird," Kyle said, shrugging.  
  
"Yeah," he laughed. "Um, anyway, Aunt O said ya got a letter and sent me up with it," he said, handing her a white envelope. Kyle took it, frowning slightly and wondering who would send her a letter here. Kyle looked up and smiled at Evan, then remembered her teeth were purple and shut her lips fast, making Evan laugh.  
  
"Hey, I think you're teeth are cool," he said. Then he looked over her shoulder as Kyle heard a crash and smiled again. "Well, uh, I better leave to you wake Kitty up- or never mind," an insane giggle came from behind Kyle and she smiled shyly.  
  
"Well, thanks," she said. "See you tomorrow."  
  
"See ya," Evan said, turning and walking away. Kyle turned around and shut the door, then burst into laughter. Jubilee was sitting on Kitty's chest, smothering the giggling girl with a pillow while Rogue watched with helpless laughter.  
  
"OH man, you gotta learn to keep your mouth shut!" Jubilee said.  
  
"Kyle, ha ha, ya gotta stop Jubes, hee hee hee, or she's kill Kit!" Rogue gasped in between laughing fits. Kyle calmly walked over and pushed Jubilee off Kitty with her foot.  
  
"Thanks a lot," she said. Kitty sat up with a bright red face.  
  
"Why'd ya have such a weird name?" she asked.  
  
"Through a lot of wishing that by me being a Kyle I might turn into a boy," Kyle said. "Great, now a sugar high Kitty is sprouting out random questions. Anything else?"  
  
"Who's the letter from?" Jubilee asked. Kyle looked down at the return address and saw there wasn't one. She shrugged and put it by her bed.  
  
"I'll read it later," she said. "Probably junk mail anyway." And with that more candy was passed around, the radio turned up, and the search for perfect outfits continued.  
  
That night Kitty and Jubilee returned to their room and Rogue giggled at Kyle, who was giggling herself and wearing the outfit Jubilee had said she should wear.  
  
"Your legs are purple," Rogue laughed. Kyle growled at her.  
  
"Well yours would to if you had purple hair and no time to shave," she said, then started to giggle again.  
  
"Oh man, Scott and Ororo are gonna *kill* us if we don't get to bed," Rogue said, sighing and flopping on her bed. "Hey, what was in that letter anyway?"  
  
"Dunno, haven't read it yet," Kyle said, shrugging and picking up the unopened letter, tearing the top off and almost ripping the paper inside. Rogue laughed.  
  
"Not very good at opening letters?" she asked. Kyle snorted at her and then read the paper, finding it was no more than a couple lines. Her insides froze as she re-read the letter, and Rogue tried to look over the top of it to see what it was. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Kyle?" Kyle didn't reply for a moment, then forced a grin on her face and stuffed the letter under her mattress.  
  
"Nuthin," she said, "Just- junk mail, credit card offers, you know- g'night." Rogue looked at her friend strangely.  
  
"Credit card?" she repeated. Kyle got up when a dart exploded out of her wrist, burying itself into the opposite wall almost to the end. Rogue gaped at it. "Whoa, you sure there's nothing wrong? That was a powerful dart!" she said. Kyle walked over and grabbed it, trying to pull it out of the wall. Then she gave up, said good night again, and shut off the lights before Rogue could say anything else.  
  
The next morning Rogue woke up and noticed that Kyle's bed was empty. Slowly the southern girl got up and stretched, looking around for her friend and then shrugging, knowing sometimes Kyle got up before her and would go to breakfast first.  
  
Rogue walked down the hall with her things for a shower and other bathroom supplies, then found Jubilee waiting outside the door, looking incredibly board. Rogue groaned.  
  
"Tell me Kitty is still in your room," she said. Jubilee smiled and shook her sleepy head.  
  
"Nope, in the shower, went in twenty minutes ago," she said.  
  
"KITTY!" Rogue yelled, pounding on the door. "GET OUTTA THERE BEFORE I MAAKE YOU COME OUT!"  
  
"Aw," Kitty was heard groaning from inside. "But I haven't even conditioned- "  
  
"GET OUT!"  
  
"Ok, ok! Gimmie a sec!" Ten minutes later Kitty emerged, a towel wrapped around her waist and hair sopping wet. Jubilee made a face at her.  
  
"Finally! I've been waiting all morning!" she said. Then she turned in to take a shower herself and crashed into the locked door. "ROGUE! I WAS FIRST!"  
  
"TOO BAD SUCKER!" Rogue yelled, turning on the shower and laughing madly.  
  
***  
  
That afternoon Rogue was still looking around for Kyle, and getting slightly worried while asking everyone if they had seen her. Finally she bumped into Hank, who apologized and then asked what was wrong when he saw Rogue's expression.  
  
"I can't find Kyle," she said. "Has she been with you at all?" Hank shook his head.  
  
"Perhaps she-" he started when Logan came up and glared at them,  
  
"Have either of ya seen that kid, Kyle?" he growled.  
  
"No, have you?" Rogue asked. Logan growled at her and held up an envelope. "Hey, that's the letter Kyle got yesterday! She said it was junk mail, where'd you get it?" Logan scowled.  
  
"I found it," he said. "Right next to the place my bike should've been, but isn't." Rogue snatched the letter and opened it.  
  
"Do you think it's wise to look in Kyle's personal mail?" Hank asked.  
  
"Well if she's gone, maybe this'll tell us where she is," Rogue said, shrugging. She quickly read the note and her jaw dropped.  
  
"What's wrong Stripes?" Logan asked.  
  
"Oh my god, it's from some neighbor of hers," Rogue said. She looked up at Hank and Logan. "Her dad died last week."  
  
***  
  
"I have located her," Xavier came out of Cerebro and looked at the X Men and Kyle's group of friends.  
  
"Where is she?" Jubilee asked.  
  
"She's at her house," Xavier replied. "Ororo, Scott, Logan and Kurt, I would like you to go talk with her. She needs to return to the school, otherwise she will be a ward of the state and could possibly end up in an orphanage, if she's found."  
  
"Why would she be found?" Kitty asked. "It's not like there's anyone at her house."  
  
"There could be relatives," Scott said. "Coming to pick things up from the house, and they could find her. If the family's disowned her, they'd turn her in, and friends would also." Xavier nodded.  
  
"You'll need to be fast," he said. Scott, Ororo, Logan, and Kurt turned and walked away, leaving Rogue and her friends looking at Hank and the professor.  
  
"Why'd she go back there without telling anyone? I mean, there's no one there, the letter told her not to go back, and she didn't even mention it to me!" Rogue said. Hank sighed.  
  
"She may be upset, and not want to discuss the matter with us right now," he said. "That may be why she stole Logan's bike and went by herself." Rogue, Jubilee, and Kitty nodded when Kitty murmured something.  
  
"What?" Jubilee asked. Kitty looked up.  
  
"Someone should tell Evan," she said. "I don't think Kyle'll want to go to a dance tonight."  
  
*****  
  
Kyle sat in her father's chair, knees drawn up to her chin and arms hugging them in tight. She stared blankly at front door, which had a hole eaten into the side. A purple scab was slowly forming on her arm, where she had used a dart to cut it and pour her acidic blood onto the lock. Now the door was swinging open, a few papers blowing around inside the room and out onto the porch, which was bright in the morning sun. Directly in front of her were a few large pools of blood, and on the wall was more blood. The room itself was a mess, having been destroyed in a fight and robbery. Police tape made the outline of a body in the middle of the pools, where her father had been.  
  
Kyle stared at the sun, wondering who was responsible for the robbery and murder. She knew it was because of her, once the neighborhood found out she had been a mutant... she had read a threat note that her father had thrown at her in a drunken rage the first night she was a mutant. It had told her father to kill or ship her off, or he would pay. Her father had told her that others accused him of being a mutant, and if he would go to hell for keeping her around.  
  
It was her fault Sam Drakings was dead, it was her fault for getting herself caught in school, in the bathroom, trying franticly to make the dart sticking halfway out of her wrist disappear. She had almost shot the teacher when she walked into the bathroom, demanding to know why Kyle wasn't at her class. Kyle should have hidden, but she was too scared to do anything but cry and wonder how in the world she could possibly be a mutant, and why her eyes were turning purple, and why when the cops arrived the treated her like an animal, before her father showed up and grabbed her, shoving her into his car and driving her home for another four days of hell.  
  
"My fault," Kyle said quietly, letting her hair fall out of its ponytail and across her face. Through the door she could see the porch, the sunlight, the oak tree in her front yard, the white picket fence she had once painted with her dad, before she had become a purple haired, purple eyes freak. The fence now had swears and curses spray painted on it. The oak had the number 666 on its trunk, and old eggs splattered on it. Yellow police tape, which she had torn through, blew around on the porch, and the motorcycle she had stolen was crashed on the front lawn, tearing up the grass tha had turned brown after her mother, the gardener in the family, had died. The woods across the street were the only things that hadn't changed.  
  
Kyle remained in the chair, motionless, staring at the blood and the sunlight and the fence, not feeling the wind or warmth or seeing the person walked by and staring at her. After a little while she heard sirens in the distance, and knew they were coming to her house, but didn't move. Soon after a cop car swerved to a stop in the street in front of the house, and two police men jumped out of their car and aimed guns at her.  
  
"Get out of that house, kid!" One cop shouted at her. Kyle didn't move and the two officers walked up, careful stepping over the bike and around the pools of blood, grabbing Kyle's hair and shoving her legs down.  
  
"You're under arrest for breaking in and entering, and disrupting a crime scene, and- holy shit!" the officer let go when he saw her dull purple eyes and purple teeth. His partner backed away and aimed his gun at Kyle.  
  
"One move, you're dead mutant," he growled. Kyle turned her head away from them.  
  
"Go away," she said softly, not even seeing the fist until it connected with her jaw. The chair fell backwards and Kyle toppled out of it, landing on her stomach. Immediately the cop who had hit her jumped on her back and pulled out his handcuffs, and even though Kyle tried to shake him off her managed to handcuff her. Getting up he backed away a moment, then kicked her in the stomach. Kyle grunted and looked at him, trying to curl up and get away as he kicked her again.  
  
"Damn you," the cop said. "You're the guy's kid aren't you? His little bitch," he kicked her again and then took out his own gun. "You know it's your own fault you're a mutant, and you know where you belong, so why didn't you just go off and finish yourself off when you had the chance?"  
  
"Leave me alone," Kyle said, tears forming in her eyes as she tried to roll over and get up. Another kick sent her sprawling as the cop cocked his gun.  
  
"You should have finished yourself off as soon as your eyes went purple," the cops sneered, coming forward and pressing the barely of his pistol against the bottom of Kyle's chin.  
  
"Don't," Kyle said weakly.  
  
"Or what?" the cop hissed. "You'll kill me?" Suddenly a bright red beam came out of seemingly nowhere and hit the cop who had his back to the door, sending him crashing against the opposite wall. The cop who had his gun under Kyle's chin spun around as Scott and Logan charged in. Immediately the Cops hauled Kyle up in front of him, using her as a shield from Scott's optic blasts. Scott and Logan froze as the warm day outside suddenly became dark, storm clouds from nowhere blocking out the sun and bringing a harsh wind with them.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" The cop shouted over the growing gale. Scott looked at Kyle, who looked back at him, terror in her eyes.  
  
"Release Kyle," Scott said evenly. The cops glared at them.  
  
"More mutants? What, is she a friend of yours?"  
  
"Yeah, bub, and we'll tear yeh limb from limb if yeh don't let her go!" Logan snarled. The cops snorted.  
  
"But if I let it go, you'll kill me anyway," he said. "Not much of a deal."  
  
"We don't want to hurt you," Scott said in a low voice. "But we'll have to if yo do not let her go." The cop looked at them as the rumble of thunder boomed from outside, disguising the *bamf* sound that came from the unsuspecting cop. Kyle struggled slightly, but the cop pressed his gun against her harder and looked at Her purple head.  
  
"You damn teenagers," he said. "Turning into mutants, thinking you can kill whoever you want," he looked up at the men. "You kill whoever you want, whenever you want, I hope to god they pass that law and then all of your asses will belong to-" suddenly a blue snakelike thing shot out from behind the cop and wrapped around his hand as two three-fingered hands grabbed the cop's shoulders and yanked hum backwards.  
  
"Wha?!" the cop yelled. The gun exploded and Kyle felt herself flung to one side, her face feeling like it had caught on fire as she cried out. She heard a *bamf* sound as she fell away and Scott and Logan lunged forward, Logan grabbing the cops and helping Kurt pin him down while Scott rolled Kyle over, crying out in pain as her acidic blood washed over his hands.  
  
"Scooter?" Logan said, looking back and Scott desperately clawed at his gloves, eventually getting them off, his hands bright red. He shook is head at Logan as the man began to rise and then looked at Kyle.  
  
"Kyle," he said, careful to avoid her blood. "Kyle!" Kyle groaned as her blood flowed from the long scrape the bullet had blazed up the side of her face.  
  
"My face," she whispered, "My hands-" Scott carefully rolled her back over and turned his visors down, snapping the handcuff in two and then rolling her back over as Ororo rushed into the room.  
  
"Kyle!" she gasped, hurrying over and looking around, finding a blanket and putting it on the side of Kyle's face while Scott backed off and held his hands close. Able to move her hands again Kyle pushed Ororo away, sobbing.  
  
"No, help him," she said. Ororo turned and looked at Scott.  
  
"What happened?" she asked.  
  
"My blood," Kyle said, holding the blanket close.  
  
"HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?!" the enraged cop screamed, struggling against Kurt and Logan's grip. Logan grunted.  
  
"More than yeh think, bub," he said, punching the cop hard on the side of the head. The cop fell over unconscious and Kurt set him down, hurrying over to Kyle while Ororo looked at Scott's hands.  
  
"Hank will need to look at both of you," Ororo said, helping Scott up while Logan hauled Kyle to her feet, ignoring the purple blood that started to eat at his uniform.  
  
"Can yeh walk kid?" he asked. Kyle nodded and he grinned at her. "Yeh own me a bike," he said. Kyle looked at him, tears slowly falling down her face.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Logan chuckled as he and Kurt helped her out of the house, following Ororo and Scott to the blackbird, which was parked in the middle of the street.  
  
"Happens all the time," he said, "An Scooter'll be alright. Yeh had a right teh come back here."  
  
"I couldn't face anyone," Kyle said, breaking down. Kurt put an arm around her gently as she stumbled, helping her up the ramp to the Blackbird and into a seat.  
  
"Ve understand," he said. "I am sorry for your loss." Then he and Logan sat in the seats ahead while Ororo helped Scott put his seatbelt on, the man's hands still burning. As Ororo left to pilot the jet Scott smiled at Kyle.  
  
"It's alright," he said, wincing slightly as the jet started up and jarred his hands against the seat. Kyle looked away, and cried silently until she fell into an uneasy sleep. 


	6. The Frustrating

"Oh my stars and garters! What happened?" Hank asked as Logan carried Kyle in and Scott followed. Logan gently laid Kyle on a table and took away what was left of the blanket, most of it had been eaten off.  
  
"Stars and Garters?" Logan said, arching an eyebrow as Hank hurried over to look at the bullet scrape and Scott's hands.  
  
"We had problems with the police," Scott said through gritted teeth. "The scrape on her face is from a bullet, and her blood spilled on my hands before the acid cooled down."  
  
"That's how she got in her house too," Logan grunted, pointing to the scabbing cut on her arm. "Must've spilled her blood on the lock t' get in." Hank sighed and looked closer at Scott's hands.  
  
"I can put a lotion and bandages on them," he said. "They're burnt, but not badly. You won't be able to use them for a couple days at least, and you may want to buy some pain killers, burns are known to be bothersome, no matter how small." Scott nodded as Hank applied the lotion and then bandaged them. Then he nodded at Kyle.  
  
"She's asleep," he said. Hank nodded, bending down to closer examine the cut. Carefully Hank got out a pair of gloves and started to wipe away the purple blood that ran down the side of her face, and he looked at her wrists, with the remains of the handcuffs still biting into them.  
  
"On it, bub," Logan grunted, unsheathing a claw and with two quick swipes the handcuffs fell off Kyle's wrists. Kyle mumbled in her sleep and as Hank picked up the handcuff halves she slowly opened her eyes.  
  
"Huh?" she said, blinking at the lights in the ceiling.  
  
"Have a good rest?" Hank asked. Kyle looked around and saw Scott and Hank smiling at her, and Logan just looking at her. She closed her eyes again.  
  
"Can I just go back?" she asked.  
  
"Go back? To where?" Scott asked.  
  
"Jail, or someplace, I don't care."  
  
"Then why not stay here, where you'll have your friends and a nicer place to stay?" Hank said, looking up from the drawer from which he was extracting the bandages and cleaning supplies. He walked over and gently wiped the tear out of the corner of Kyle's eyes. "Wait until you can let it all go," he said softly. "In a place that feels safer." Kyle looked at him wearily and then nodded slowly as Logan and Scott said goodbye and left.  
  
Kyle slowly sat up and winced as Hank started to bandage the long scrape. Neither said anything until Kyle finally muttered something.  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Hank asked. Kyle looked at him.  
  
"Well don't you want to know?" she asked. "Why I left? Or did you guys find the letter?"  
  
"We found it, well, Logan found it, and Rogue was the first to read it. I apologize if you did not want us to read it, and I'm sorry for your loss."  
  
"I'm not," Kyle muttered. Then she sighed at the look Hank gave her. "Well, I am sort of. But-" she stopped and shook her head. "I don't know."  
  
"You will," Hank said. "Give it time, cry if you need to, think about it, that's my advice. The only advice I can give, but its worked for some people."  
  
"Is it ever frustrating?" Kyle asked.  
  
"Is what ever frustrating?" Hank asked.  
  
"Not being able to help hurt emotions, I mean, being a doctor and helping physical injuries and all that," Kyle said.  
  
"Yes, it is quite frustrating, but I believe that it is frustrating for everyone, not just doctors," Hank said. Kyle didn't respond and Hank backed up a step. "Now, your blood has cleaned away any infections in your cut-"  
  
"And germs on Scott's hands," Kyle said gloomily. "Is he-?"  
  
"He's fine, minor burns," Hank assured her. "Now, should I help you up to your room or would you rather having another rest here?"  
  
"You don't need to accompany me, I can walk," Kyle said.  
  
"I could not in good conscience let you return to your room unescorted, you look much to-"  
  
"English, please, simple English, I can't handle big words right now."  
  
"You look dead tired, and I'd worry about you being able to make it to your room," Hank said, smiling at her. Kyle sighed.  
  
"Alright, escort me then, just no more big words." Hank helped her off the table and they had not gotten halfway to Kyle's room when she slowed, and Hank had to help her the rest of the way to her room. 


	7. The Dreams

Kyle woke some hours later and looked around, then buried her head deeper into the pillow and tried to go back to her blissful dreamless sleep.  
  
"Kyle? You up girl?" Rogue asked softly. Kyle lay limp in her bed.  
  
"Tired," she grunted. She felt Rogue's gloved hand on her back for a moment, then the soft padding of bare feet walking out of the room and the door close. Then, all at once, the tears came. Kyle couldn't understand why, but all of the sudden memories, from when she was a little girl and her mother and father were alive and happy, well, mostly happy, flooded through her mind, memories from when she was happy and normal and loved by her father, and had her sister to play with even when other kids wouldn't, memories bringing a torrent of emotions and sensations that reminded her vaguely of one of Ororo's storms.  
  
The memory of her mother, a pretty woman with amber eyes and blonde hair, and a drinking problem that was all too obvious to her ten year-old daughter. The memory of her father, blue eyed and slightly darker haired than Kyle used to have, always buying his youngest child little gifts and playing with her until her mother died in the car accident, then he too turned to alcohol for comfort. Her sister, tall and sharing her father's blue eyes and blonde hair, who had always looked out for Kyle until she had to leave for college, and Kyle never heard from her again.  
  
The memory of herself, before her mutation, a slender girl with pretty hair and her mother's eyes, a straight A and B student with a few friends, independent by necessity and not bad off socially. But that had been before her darts had come out of her wrist, and her eyes turned purple, and she started being abused by her father, and before the strange X Men showed up one morning offering a place where she could make more friends who didn't curse or hate her and where she could control the darts....  
  
The most recent memory of her home. The memory of it being ransacked and full of blood and hate. Her father's blood, her blood, where the two cops had been rendered... was it just unconscious? Kyle didn't care. Where the white picket fence was now like a billboard for the people who hate her to post their feelings, and the oak tree. Home, where her father would strike her again and again for what she was, which would eventually kill him, even if it wasn't by her hand directly. She could picture mutant haters forcing their way into the house, shooting her father through the head before he could defend himself, then taking anything they wanted.  
  
"No! She's not here! I got rid-" The words yelled themselves through Kyle's head out of the blue, followed by a deafening shot. Then there were no memories, in her mind Kyle could only see herself as a tiny girl playing with her trucks and wearing her boy's clothes, her father still liked to treat her like a boy sometimes. Just that memory, sitting in the living room, that one memory while quick visions of people walking by; her father, her mother, Ororo, her old best-friends Jane and Taylor, Rogue, Scott, the police men that had tried to kill her, Hank and Scott, the teacher that had first spat the word 'mutant' at her, her sister. All of them walked by on the edges, barely recognizable, and then Kyle as she was now, looking at her old self, then everything faded out into blackness, and Kyle dreamed no more for the rest of the night, she had unwittingly fallen asleep in the middle of her personal torment.  
  
***  
  
At noon the next day Jubilee sat on Kyle's bed, putting an arm on her friend's back.  
  
"You up and just faking it?" she asked softly.  
  
"Yes," Kyle said, in a voice almost too small to hear.  
  
"Fake more if you want, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't passed out," Jubilee said, rubbing Kyle's back and then getting up and leaving.  
  
"How is she?" Kitty asked as Jubilee shut the door. Rogue also looked up, waiting for an answer, which was given merely in the form of a shake of the head.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong with you all?" Evan asked, walking up with a look of concern on his face. "Everything alright? Where's Kyle?"  
  
"She's not talking to anyone right now," Rogue said glumly. "Family problems. I would leave her alone." Evan's face fell.  
  
"Well, alright then," he said, looking at the door and putting his hands in his pockets. "If she can't do the dance tonight-"  
  
"She can't," Kitty said, looking at the floor. "Definitely not."  
  
"Oh, well, tell her I hope she feels better soon," Evan said.  
  
"We will," Jubilee said. Evan nodded and turned, walking back down the hall.  
  
"He's nice," Kitty said.  
  
"Yeah," Rogue agreed.  
  
"Should we tell someone she's still in bed? What if something's wrong?" Jubilee wondered, looking back at the door.  
  
~ She's going through a lot right now, I suggest you keep up what you've been doing, it's helping more than either you or she realizes at this point, ~ the professor said.  
  
~ Really? ~ asked all three girls in response.  
  
~ I promise, ~ he said, then closed the link.  
  
"Man, why do these things always have to happen?" Jubilee demanded of the wall.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Kyle's a great girl, and her father goes and gets killed, and she's thrown out of her family and town just because she can shoot people with darts from a couple hundred yards off if she wants," Jubilee said. "Why? Like, because we're all mutants we're supposed to not care about this kind of thing? You heard the adults last night, they said her house was *trashed*, and all the stuff on her fence or something, just because she's a mutant! Why does it always have to happen to people like her?" A tear slowly fell down Jubilee's cheek, and Rogue and Kitty got up and hugged her.  
  
"There is no reason, except an unfair one," Rogue said. "No reason at all." 


	8. The Sister

That night Kyle opened the door, finding to her surprise Kitty, Rogue, and Jubilee sleeping on the other side. Frowning and hearing music drifting from down stairs Kyle quietly closed the door and looked at her friends, then sitting next to Jubilee and staring at the door until Jubilee groaned and moved over, falling on Kyle and her head resting on Kyle's shoulder for a full five seconds before she stirred again and yawned, opening her eyes and seeing Kyle.  
  
"Kyle?" she asked groggily. Then she shook her head and nodded. "Yes, Sleeping Beauty has confirmed that she is looking at Kyle. What are you doing out here?"  
  
"What are you doing?" Kyle returned, trying to smile. Jubilee grinned sheepishly.  
  
"We didn't want you to run off again without us knowing," she said. "You doing ok?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, if you ever need-"  
  
"I know." Jubilee looked at Kyle sadly.  
  
"You don't want to hear any of that crap do you?" she asked softly. Kyle shook her head.  
  
"I'm sick of it," she said softly. "It only hurts."  
  
"Then I won't ask again, as long as you know it," Jubilee said. "And I'll make sure the Sleeping Smelly-Dead keep their big mouths shut too." Kyle managed a ghost of a smile on her lips, but her eyes never left the doorway as Jubilee hugged her tightly and Kitty snorted in her sleep.  
  
***  
  
Hank walked down the hall towards Kyle's room, sighing and then stopping when he saw Kyle, Rogue, Jubilee, and Kitty all asleep in the hall, leaning against eachother. The doctor noted that Kyle look somehow much paler and thinner than the other girls, and unhappily he bent down and put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly.  
  
"Kyle, wake up," he said softly. Kyle leaned to one side and then slowly opened her eyes, and seeing Hank right in front of her let out a long, seemingly forced, sigh. "Sorry to have to wake you up, but you have a visitor." Kyle snapped into focus.  
  
"What?" she said, her voice croaking. "Who?" Hank paused.  
  
"She says she's you're sister, and she would like to see you right now, she has to leave soon," he said. Kyle's heart froze.  
  
"Karen?" she gasped out. "Karen's here? Why? How? My- no one ever told her I was-" Hank shrugged.  
  
"She gave no explanation as to how she knew you were here," Hank said gently, "Or exactly who she was either, but she did make it very clear that she needed to see you right now, she says she had to be somewhere. Are you coming?" Kyle slowly got up and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve, then listened for a moment to the music coming from downstairs.  
  
"The dance- still on?" she asked. Hank smiled sadly.  
  
"No, you slept all of today, this I believe, is the boys dance. Far less hearts and pink things, I must say." They walked down the hall in silence the rest of the way to a dim-lighted classroom. When they walked in they found Karen, Scott, and Ororo all looking at eachother. Kyle froze when she saw her older sister, who had disappeared from her life when she was seven. Karen didn't smile at her, only nodded slightly.  
  
"May we have some privacy?" she asked. The adults nodded.  
  
"Of course," Ororo said, as she walked by Kyle she gave her a little smile, then shut the door behind her and the men. Kyle looked at Karen, suddenly aware that no one in her family had ever seen her like this, and the familiar sensation of a dart getting ready to explode shot through her arm. Karen didn't speak for a moment, looking Kyle over with a disapproving frown on her face, and Kyle wished Ororo or Hank or Scott had stayed. Finally she spoke.  
  
"If you had stayed where you belonged you would be dead too," she said softly. Kyle looked at the floor.  
  
"I know." She said.  
  
"If you hadn't gone to school that day, you would be fine," Karen said. "No one would have known, dad would be alive, you knew you were sick, why did you go?"  
  
"I thought it was only a morning thing," Kyle said, shrugging. "I didn't know-"  
  
"Well I did." Karen snapped. Kyle looked up at her, wondering how in the world her sister could have known that. Karen snorted and glared at her.  
  
"You think you're the only one in the family who's a mutant?" she snapped, Kyle looked into her eyes and to her complete shock they glowed green slightly, then returned to normal.  
  
"You're- *you're* a-" she stuttered.  
  
"Freak, just like you," Karen snapped. "Why do you think I left home so early? Mom and Dad thought I was mad at them, I let them think that because I knew it was better. You should have left to, I knew you were going to end up like this."  
  
"Karen-"  
  
"Shut up when I'm talking to you!" Karen thundered, her hands curling into fist. "You're an ungrateful brat, just like you always were, and now because you decided you couldn't live without going to school dad is dead!" Kyle looked away, tears forming in her eyes. "I can't believe you, Kyle," Karen said, her voice getting quiet. "You were always smart, Kyle, smarter than me, but you had to be stupid just one day! That day! I knew it was going to happen, I should have stopped you, but I thought maybe I was wrong and wouldn't have to come save your ass-"  
  
"Karen!" Kyle sobbed. "Why? Why did you come?"  
  
"Because I needed to make sure that I was right," Karen said, walking forward and putting her hands on Kyle's shoulders, making her look into her eyes. "I needed to see you myself, not just relying on visions and crap that I don't want." She stopped and noticed the tears in Kyle's purple eyes. "And my name is not Karen anymore," she said in a low voice. "Like yours isn't Kyle. We're mutants, we have no rights to our human names anymore."  
  
"My name is Kyle-"  
  
"No, it's Poison," Karen said. "And mine is Unknown. Those are our names, and you can't let anyone call you anything else." Kyle shook her head.  
  
"No, I won't change-"  
  
"You bitch!" Karen swung her fist and hit Kyle in the nose, sending her sister flying backwards. Kyle grunted and lay on the floor. "Damnit," Karen said, holding her fist. "Why'd you make me do that? Your face already looks like crap." Kyle slowly got up, feeling blood start to pour out of her nose she quickly put her hands up ad caught it, absorbing most of the acid before it ate through her clothes or the floor. Karen grabbed her sister's hands and looked at the blood, then pushed her away again.  
  
"What do you want from me?" Kyle asked softly as Karen turned away. Her sister's shoulders dropped and she turned back around.  
  
"You're not going to like this, but there's no question here, you're coming with me." Kyle stared at her.  
  
"What?" she said. Karen glared at her.  
  
"You're coming with me, you're not going to stay here. This place is going to be discovered one day, and as soon as they pass that law a hundred thousand military men will swoop in and kill or arrest all of the people here, the only way to escape that is to leave. Besides, with the rest of our family dead, thanks to you, you're under my charge, so you don't have a choice anyway," she said. Kyle backed away, shaking her head.  
  
"No, no!" she said. "I'm not going, and dad put me in the professor's charge-"  
  
"Where's the proof?" Karen demanded. "Where's the paperwork? Dad didn't sign any of that-" Kyle's breath caught as she realized that her sister was probably right, she had never seen any papers exchange hands between her father and any of the X Men, so there was nothing to prove that her father had sent her away.  
  
"I'm not going!" Kyle shouted. Karen stepped forward again, fist raised, but Kyle was faster, dodging her sister's attack and barreling into her side, sending both crashing into a table. Kyle rolled off Karen and scrambled up, running to the door and wrenching it open and running into Ororo, who grabbed her.  
  
"Kyle! What's wrong?" the white haired woman asked.  
  
"I won't- I won't go!" she sobbed, tears flowing freely down the side of her face. Suddenly Karen appeared, shirtsleeve torn and breathing heavily, glaring at Kyle and the X Men.  
  
"What did you do to her?" Scott demanded.  
  
"It's none of your concern," Karen spat. "She's coming with me!"  
  
"I beg to disagree," Hank said, stepping forward and frowning at Karen. "She seems to wish to remain here."  
  
"I don't care what she wants, it's not her choice!" Karen fumed.  
  
"Do you have anything stating that you're her legal guardian now?" Scott asked. Karen glared at them.  
  
"Neither do you, and I am her sister," she said in a low voice.  
  
"I beg to disagree," said a voice from down the hall. The group, minus Kyle, turned and saw a hard-faced Xavier holding some document in on hand and approaching them. "Kyle's father signed all of the necessary paperwork, otherwise Kyle could not have come to the school at all." Karen's face drained and she grabbed the papers, read them hurriedly and then glared at the professor.  
  
"She should have died with dad," she said. "She doesn't belong here."  
  
"Kyle belongs where she can feel and be safe," Xavier said, his eyes flashing. "She belongs where she will not be abused for making mistakes or for who she is, and she will remain here as long as she needs and wishes. Now you may leave, and not have further contact with Kyle unless it's an apology for you harsh and intolerable actions, am I clear?" Karen glared at him but didn't respond, instead stormed down the hall and through the front door. Xavier sighed as Ororo comforted Kyle, who was still crying.  
  
"She will try and get Kyle again," he said in a soft voice. Then he looked at Scott and Hank. "Logan is having problems supervising the dance, perhaps you can go help him?" Scott and Hank nodded and walked away, and Xavier looked at Kyle, who shuddered.  
  
~ It was not your fault, what happened to your father, ~ he said. ~ And your sister was out of line. But she will not bother you again, I promise. ~ Kyle didn't respond beyond a shudder, and Ororo hugged her a little tighter.  
  
"It'll be alright," she said softly. "Don't worry, it will get better." Kyle still made no reply, but slowly pulled away, crossing her arms and looking down.  
  
"She said they were going to pass the law," she said in a tiny voice. "The mutant registration thing and they'd kill or imprison everyone here. She said-"  
  
"She was lying, trying to persuade you to go with her," Xavier said firmly. Kyle wiped away the blood on her nose and hiccupped.  
  
"She hates me," she said.  
  
"She hates that you are safe and don't want to be with her, she's reacting the only way she knows how, even though it certainly not an appropriate method. I hope you realize this and do not hold anything she told you to your heart." Kyle nodded slowly and looked at the floor.  
  
"I'm gonna- I'm gonna go to bed," she said, walking away. Ororo looked after her.  
  
"Did her sister hit her?" she asked, tight lipped.  
  
"Yes," Xavier said.  
  
"That girl has gone through so much, and her family keeps abusing her," Ororo said sadly.  
  
"I know, but all we can do is make they do not hurt her again, and make her realize she has a family here as well," Xavier said. Then he smiled. "And as I understand it, Evan has asked her to a dance." Ororo also smiled.  
  
"Yes," she said. "But I hope he realizes she is going through a hard time and keeps his distance if she needs him to, he can be a very persistent boy at times."  
  
"I don't know, he might be good for her," Xavier said. "Certainly Rogue and Jubilee and Kitty are good for her."  
  
"They make quite a group," Ororo said. 


	9. The Mutant

"She's *still* in there?" Rogue asked, thumping her head on the door.  
  
"I'LL JUST BE A MINUTE!" Kitty screamed.  
  
"Right," Jubilee said. She paused. "Kyle's still in her room too," she said.  
  
"Yeah," Rogue grunted, head drooping. "She's hasn't come out once in three days."  
  
"And you're still staying with Ro?" Jubilee said. Rogue nodded.  
  
"Yeah," she said. "It's not that bad, we talk and she let's me eat popcorn in her room, as long as I don't make a mess and do all my homework."  
  
"Well, I think we should check on her after breakfast, I don't think she's eaten anything," Kitty said, opening the door and walking out, smiling at the other girls. Jubilee immediately shoved Rogue to one side and shut the door till only her face was showing.  
  
"Good, you two can get the food, I'll be a while," she said, slamming the door. Rogue glared at the door.  
  
"I was first in line!" she yelled.  
  
"TOO BAD SUCKER!" Jubilee yelled, firing Rogue's words back at her.  
  
***  
  
Kyle watched the lawn through the window by her bed, propped up on some pillows. She didn't know how long she had been there, a few days, a few hours, she had no idea. She didn't care.  
  
A knock on the door fell flat, and soon Jubilee, Kitty, and Rogue came through the door, trying to look busy and cheerful as they brought in a tray of pancakes from downstairs, looking worriedly at their friend, who's pale face was turned away from them.  
  
"Hey Kyle, you're missing out on some great food downstairs, so we brought some up!" Kitty said in a fake-cheerful voice.  
  
"Not hungry," Kyle muttered.  
  
"Aw Kyle, you can't just turn into a skeleton on us!" Jubilee said, flopping down on Kyle's bed and putting her head in her lap, looking up at Kyle until the purple haired dart-shooter had to look down. Jubilee smiled as Kyle just gazed. "There, see? Looking, it's nice to look at people when they aren't only five hundred plus yards away from ya!" she said. "And the next step is to actually open your mouth and shove some food down it."  
  
"Want me t' do that airplane thing?" Rogue joked.  
  
"If I was a baby, sure," Kyle said, looking back out the window. Jubilee sat up and mock-glared at her.  
  
"Well you're acting like one, not talking about boys or clothes or even Valentines day," she said. "Evan's been asking every day about you, and so has Hank!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"Well, I think Hank just wants t' run some tests on ya," Rogue said. "But Evan likes you, I know that for a fact!"  
  
"So?" Kyle repeated.  
  
"Well," Kitty said. "For one, it means you have a stalker on your trail, which is what a lot of girls really go for nowadays, even if you do know who he is and take classes from his aunt."  
  
"I'm not hungry," Kyle repeated as Rogue held up a plate.  
  
"We're worried about you," she said frankly.  
  
"Why?" Kyle asked, looking at her.  
  
"Why?" Jubilee repeated. "Why?! God girl, you've locked yourself up here for days, you won't talk to any of us, you won't eat anything, you won't change that bandage or just take it off, or change your clothes either! You won't move, or do anything except sit here day and night looking out of this window! I'm ready to go hire some big investigator to go look for ya, because you definitely are NOT here!"  
  
"We just want to help you," Rogue said. Kyle looked down.  
  
"I know," she said quietly.  
  
"Then come to the mall with us this afternoon," Kitty said. "We'll skip class and go shopping, get some new stuff, look at the tough guys who are skipping too-"  
  
"Right, the mall," Jubilee interrupted. She stood up decisively and hit the foot of Kyle's bed. "We're giving you half an hour to get up, eat something, and get dressed, and then so-help-me GOD I will drag you out of here to the mall, so GET MOVING!" With that she turned and grabbed Rogue and Kitty's arms, hauling them out after her and shutting the door with her foot. Outside she looked at Kitty and Rogue. "You two get moving to," she said.  
  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rogue asked. "What if she has a breakdown or something?"  
  
"Please, you just saw her! How much more broken down can you really get?" Jubilee asked, rolling her eyes. "If nothing else is working, I'm gonna try this. You guys can say it was my idea if anything goes wrong."  
  
"It is your idea," Kitty said. Jubilee chuckled.  
  
"Nope, it was yours," she said, walking down the hall to her room to get her keys. In her room Kyle blinked, processing what her friends had just said. She considered going, then just staying put, and with obvious effort pulled herself out of her sitting position and slowly stood up. For a moment her legs shook and she wondered if they'd give, but they held in the end and Kyle slowly made her way over to her closet. A quick look told her she'd find nothing good in there, so she slowly made her way over to Rogue's closet and dug around, pulling out an outfit that looked alright.  
  
After she dressed Kyle walked into the bathroom and saw the dried remnants of her nose-blood on her chin and above her lips, and the dirty bandage Hank had put on her about a week ago still clinging to the side of her head. Digging under the cabinet Kyle found fresh bandages, and painfully pulled the old one off, washed around it and the rest of her face, and redid the bandages. She looked at herself in the mirror and quickly applied some blush, realizing she did look like a skeleton. After a little more blush than usually needed she decided that it was as good as it was going to get and came out of the bathroom, immediately seized by Rogue and Kitty.  
  
"Come on!" Jubilee cried, running in front of them as they made their way down to the garage and hoped in Scott's convertible. Rogue grinned and jingled the keys before turning the car on, looking at Kyle, who was putting on her seatbelt and blinking the bright sunlight.  
  
"Scott really should lock his bedroom door, or at least hide his keys," she said, driving away.  
  
"Oh, here," Kitty said, leaning in from the back and handing some pink sunglasses to Kyle, who looked at them. "They go with your hair, don't worry, you cant see your eyes from behind them," she said, laughing madly and standing up as they drove outside the gates of the mansion. Jubilee grabbed her and pulled her down, shouting over the wind.  
  
"STAY DOWN YOU KNUCKLE HEAD!" she yelled. "YOU WANNA GET KILLED?!"  
  
"YES!" Kitty screamed. Rogue looked around as her hair blew in her face and saw a fancy-looking button, and pressed it. Immediately the cover came up from the back and swept over their heads, hooking up to the front of the car.  
  
"Ooo!" Said the teenage girls, looking up at it.  
  
"That was cool," Kitty said. Kyle smiled briefly, for the first time in a week feeling some sort of happiness in her body as her friends started to talk about girly stuff. Maybe this trip to a mall was what she needed.  
  
"So Kyle, when are you gonna kiss Evan?" Jubilee asked. Kyle managed another smile.  
  
"Dunno," she said, a little less strain in her voice now. "When you kiss Matt whats-his-face I guess."  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
Well, I finished another. People should note that I wrote this during a time of depression, or at least started it, so the whole purpose pretty much was for me to make someone else as miserable as I could, and since all I could to was write it, well, there ya go, hope ya enjoyed its blackness. Please review!  
  
-Ice Lynx 


End file.
